Remember the giddy excitement that welled up inside the pit of your stomach when, upon completing a marathon Trick-or-Treating run, it was finally time to dump the contents of your bloated pillowcase all over the floor?

Amid random carpet crumbs and tufts of dog fur, the next crucial step would then be to sort, categorize, and ultimately pawn off all candy rejects upon easily swayed siblings and casual acquaintances who failed to grasp the unspoken yet inarguable confection hierarchy that still exists to this very day.

In my post-Halloween candy sorting circle, anyone with a shred of sugar sense knew that scoring willing Good & Plenty adoptees was an exercise in sheer futility.

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I grew up around just plain black and cherry licorice and usually only the thin laces, so trying this soft eating licorice was very unique. I received 4 flavors of the Darrell Lea Soft Eating Licorice for review: strawberry, mango, green apple and black. The bags are full of thick tubes of licorice, as you can see from my photo of the green apple flavor. We’re talking 2 inch long tubular pieces that are half an inch in diameter. So, if you’re a licorice fan, these definitely are worth it for serving size alone. However, as a Candy Addict, I cannot go by portion size alone.

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Chocolate’s association with America is nuanced in its origin and evolution. The confection originally developed in Central and South America where the indigenous peoples consumed it as a beverage. It wasn’t until 1847 that the solid chocolate we recognize today was created by Fry and Sons of Bristol, England.

Within America itself, the beverage form of chocolate retained a fascinating role in colonial development. For instance, American pioneers George and Martha Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were all fond of drinking chocolate. But it wasn’t limited to a few of our country’s greatest citizens. After the Boston Tea Party, colonists replaced their breakfast beverage of tea with chocolate.

These facts and more relating to the American Civil War, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and even the transpacific flight of Amelia Earhart incorporate chocolate in the telling of their histories. How do I know this? Because American Heritage Chocolate, a subsidiary of Mars, has conducted a vast deal of research into the topic, culminating in the upcoming publication of Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage and a corresponding presentation at the Smithsonian.

If you haven’t ever heard of American Heritage Chocolate, they manufacture handmade chocolate that is inspired by a colonial recipe (meaning solid chocolate with flavors akin to the flavors contained in the beverage form from the era).

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(picture from Licorice International)

When I saw these tasty looking little bears in one of my favorite Cape Cod candy shops, I just knew I had to have them. Gum drops plus licorice in a cute little bear shaped package… what could be better? The bears are larger than a regular gumdrop, but are the same texture and consistency. They are covered in granulated sugar, and all are black.

At first taste, it’s hard to even tell that anise is an ingredient in these tasty little cubs. They are very sweet, and the anise flavoring, which is milder than licorice root, is almost difficult to distinguish. I would even hazard to say that someone who doesn’t typically like licorice might find these acceptable. For those of us who happen to love licorice, these are so mild that it’s nearly impossible to get too much of the delicious flavor.

If I had to find one fault with this selection, it would only be that the bears are a little too large to eat comfortably in one bite. Despite that, these were definitely one of my better buys, and I would highly recommend them, both to those who join me in licorice addiction, and those who just enjoy a really good gumdrop.

Buy Anise Bears online:

• at Licorice International
• at Amazon
• at Groovy Candies

candy, sweets, licorice, anise, bears, gummi, gummy, bear